Childish Gambino Pays Tribute To Mac Miller At His Live Show: ‘He Just Loved Music’

September 10th, 2018 guystyle

Mac Miller’s untimely death at 26 last week has ushered in a torrent of support, love, and memorializing from his peers in the music world and beyond. Notable moments came from his ex-girlfriend Ariana Grande, who posted a striking photo of Mac over the weekend, as well as fellow rappers like Chance, Kyle, Wiz Khalifa, Post Malone, and more.

At a tour stop in Chicago, as The Fader points out, Childish Gambino offered his take on Miller’s death as well, pausing the show for a heartfelt musing on how the two complemented each other through the years. As the fan-captured video below shows, Gambino began with a simple declaration: “I’m a very sensitive person… but this Mac Miller shit got me fucked up.”

“He was so nice. Y’all don’t know, like, he was the sweetest guy,” he continued. “A lot of critics were like, ‘Yo, this corny-ass white dude,’ just like they’re like, ‘Yo, this corny-ass black dude.’ And we used to talk, and this kid, he just loved music.

“We should be allowed to be sad about that. Like, my heart was broken. And I feel good about being sad because it tells me that he was special, that I had a special moment.”

Gambino used Miller’s rise, which was concurrent with his own, as a reminder that people don’t have to be beholden to the narratives and expectations and definitions that other people place on them. “We’re all way too complex to be a narrative,” he concluded, before telling Miller he loves him and dedicating his song “Riot” to him.